A window regulator for upwardly and downwardly moving a window glass of a vehicle is provided between an outer panel and an inner panel, which structure a door panel of the vehicle. The window glass is guided to move upwardly and downwardly by a pair of side frames. The window regulator operates a window glass supporting portion (connecting portion), which is fixedly provided at the window glass, to move upwardly and downwardly by means of a loop wire, thereby driving the window glass to move upwardly and downwardly. Such wire-operational type window regulator includes a window regulator with a guiding rails(s) for guiding a glass supporting portion thereof to move upwardly and downwardly, and a guideless window regulator which does not include such guiding rails.
JP2006-348627A (hereinafter, referred to as reference 1) and JP2007-239435A (hereinafter, referred to as reference 2) disclose the guideless wire-operational type window regulator. According to the references 1 and 2, a loop wire is wound around four guide members (pulleys) so as to exhibit a shape of an “8”. Further, a part of the loop wire is wound around a drum. The drum is driven to rotate by an actuator in first and second rotational directions, so that the loop wire is moved along the 8-shaped locus. First and second window glass supporting portions are fixedly connected to the loop wire at first and second vertical positions, at which the loop wire moves in the vertical direction (upper and lower direction), on the locus of the loop wire, respectively. Accordingly, when the wire is driven to move by the drum, the window glass supporting portions are driven to move upwardly and downwardly.
However, according to the references 1 and 2, the loop wire is not covered with any covering member. Further, components of the window regulator, such as the guide members and the wire, are not fixed to one another. Therefore, a manual assembling operation for assembling the window regulator onto an inner surface of an inner panel of a door panel may be difficult. Further, when performing the manual assembling operation, element wires structuring the loop wire may be damaged when making contact with other members such as the door panel. Therefore, the loop wire may break by being cut.
A need thus exists for a window regulator, which is not susceptible to the drawback mentioned above.